It is understandable that after seeing various responses to tweets of one ‘writer-activist’ self-praising her credentials, you might be left wondering who this huge celebrity is. Calm down, it is perfectly normal because several others too, were scratching their heads wondering who this great personality was, leave alone her credentials.
She is apparently an ‘accomplished poet and writer’ but a warning before hand, you will be called a “sanghi sombu” if you point out errors or criticize the statements of her like how ‘neutral’ political commentator Sumanth Raman was called by this ‘international writer’ for pointing out factual errors in an article in which she was quoted.
Perhaps local readers like us must get accustomed to her ‘international style’ of rebuttal.
Of course, terms like ‘sanghi sombu’, ‘mama’ (a term to poke fun at his Brahmin Origins) and addressing in singular are easy-to-tweet rebuttals in a short time span and seem to be the celebrity’s style of answering. But, Sumanth Raman’s questions to the statements made in The News Minute article remain unanswered. Considering the highly busy schedule of the ‘writer-activist’ dividing her time between Chennai and London, it is doubtful whether it would get answered.
Another piece of warning – you may have several reasons for putting ‘writer-activist’ designation of this personality in quotes but beware, you might be called an upholder of peak Brahminism and might be referred to as a ‘Brahmin dick’ by this ‘accomplished writer’.
For long, this particular community has been demonized and victimized by the followers of a rabid demagogue named E.V. Ramasamy from whom they draw inspiration to spew venom against this community but not anymore. This rabid hatred and Nazism will be called out and be thrown back at them with force on their face.
“Find me a Brahmin woman who’s done a half of what I’ve done at 36. We can talk about my credentials later” was the challenge that was given out by this ‘accomplished writer’. As funny and bizarre it may sound, it is also essential that we empathize with this ‘writer-poet-activist’ because at times, basking too much in one’s own credentials can make a person lose touch with reality, which many people believe is the cause behind such a weird comical tweet. It is very unfortunate that despite Meena Kandasamy’s Tamil upbringing, she has not heard of the Tamil ‘Brahmin woman’ Vai.Mu.Kothainayaki who was only 25 years old when she wrote and published a play “Indra Mohana” and took over as the editor of a magazine, way back in the year 1925. Vai.Mu.Kothainayaki, born in 1901, was a Tamil writer, Novelist, and journalist who was the first woman to occupy the editorial board of a Tamil Magazine. She wrote 115 books and published a monthly Tamil magazine, Jaganmohini. She was the first female writer in Tamil to write a detective novel. She excelled in various fields like public speaking, social service, music composition and fiction writing. She was a Freedom Fighter and was hailed as the “Queen of Fictions”. Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha, who hailed from the Brahmin community was a very accomplished person in the Film Industry at a young age even before she entered politics and it is still not comprehensible as to how this celebrity ‘writer’ forgot an ex-CM from a ‘Dravidian party’ who was alive till 2016! The current Finance Minster of India, Nirmala Sitharaman, is a Tamil Brahmin woman.
There is a high chance that this “highly celebrated” poet must have had at least one glass of Pepsi in her lifetime, if not, at least as a matter of Current affairs be knowing Indra Nooyi, former chairperson and chief executive officer (CEO) of PepsiCo, who has been consistently ranked among the world’s 100 most powerful women. In 2014, she was ranked at number 13 on the Forbes list of The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women and was ranked the 2nd most powerful woman on the Fortune list in 2015. In 2017, she was ranked the 2nd most powerful woman once more on the Forbes list of The 19 Most Powerful Women in Business. Indra Nooyi comes from a Tamil Brahmin Household. Not sure if Pepsi would become a Brahminical drink hereafter.
There is no doubt the ‘accomplished poet and writer’ passed her schooling, and definitely should have read a bit of history at school, and it is still an amusement to many as to how she forgot Jhansi Lakshmi Bai, a Brahmin woman who sacrificed her life fighting for the Motherland at a young age of 29. Either it has to do with poor history teaching at school or insomnia that one can forget Rani Lakshmi Bai. Perhaps, sacrificing live for this country is not considered an achievement by followers of a secessionist rabid demagogue.
Brahmin woman Sarojini Naidu, was an Indian Freedom fighter, poet, proponent of women emancipation and has several other credits to her name. She was dearly called as Nightingale of India and despite having done so much for the country; she was an embodiment of humility. It is a matter of amusement that the ‘accomplished writer’ doesn’t remember even Sarojini Naidu from her school textbooks!
India’s first female physician and first Indian woman to complete her studies in western medicine from United States was Anandibai Joshi, a Brahmin woman. Shakuntala Devi, internationally acclaimed mathematician, writer, speaker, Genius was born to family of Brahmin priests and has her feats recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records. Not sure, if the ‘accomplished poet and writer’ has a distaste for Mathematics that she does not know/ remember Shakuntala Devi, commonly known as Human Computer. Āvani Chaturvedi, India’s first woman fighter pilot was also a Brahmin woman.
Leave alone historical figures, there are several contemporary examples to destroy the challenge posed by ‘writer-activist’. From the Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund Gita Gopinath, to the Chairperson of Infosys Foundation and a philanthropist, Sudha Murthy, there are various contemporary examples.
The real point of the matter is not about proving whether the ‘accomplished poet and writer’ has a poor hold over current affairs or has insomnia, because it makes less difference to people who are not her students or readers thankfully. The actual problem is the extreme hate spewed against particular community and fuelling of caste and communal tensions, all under the brigade of an Activist. The very fact that this ‘writer-poet’ wants to start a caste debate speaks volumes about her activism against caste. Degrading women of one community as losers is an indicator of what the writer’s ‘feminism’ emanating from E V Ramasamy’s philosophy looks like.
This reaction to her casteist and disgusting tweet is of her own making. – On December 25th she tweeted, “Sanghi trolls, come on, I am great at this game” and on 29th December she tweeted that she has made her account protected due to trolling after her challenge was taken head on by netizens making #Brahmin trend nationwide.
A piece of advice to the ‘accomplished poet and writer’ – think twice or thrice before throwing open a challenge and once you do, have the stomach to face it.
Arrogance and pride is a personal choice but not at the cost of demeaning someone else. There are several unsung women in the world who seek no laurels or credits for their service.